Improvement in cornice-tools



' JOHN P. BALLANTINE, or DETROIT,

PATENT FFIGE.

MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND GARDNER W. MOMILLAN, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT lN CORNlCE-TOQLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent- No. 133,820, dated December 10, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. BALLANTINE, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in. Plasterers Mitering-Tools; and I do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon and being a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a portion of a wall and a chimney-breast, showin g my mitering-slipper in operation 5 and Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the tool and its guidin g-frame, showing the wall and chimney-breast in horizontal section.

Like letters refer to like parts in each figure.

The nature of this invention relates to a plasterers slipper, so constructed that, in connection with grooved guides secured to the'walls,cornice-moldin gs in plaster are easily run byit, and miters and angles in the molding accurately formed. The invention consists in a peculiar reversible slipper or molding-tool, whose frame or stock is provided with guide-studs running in' grooves in guides temporarily nailedto the walls below the cornice, to enable the plasterer to follow the guides not. only on a direct line, but to any" angle to which portions of said guides may be adjusted with relation to the main walls, and thus shape the molding in the internal and external miters.

In the drawing, A represents the wall of an apartment, and A the chimney-breast. B is the plaster cornice of the wall, and B that of the chimney-breast. O is my improved mitering-slipper, the frame of which is composed of two pieces of wood, a a, and a girt, b, mortised together so that pieces a form a rightangled triangle. On one side of the pieces a are projecting guide-studs 0 0, shown in Fig. 1, and in dotted lines in Fig. 2, they being on the under side of the frame in that figure. To the other side of the frame is secured a bracket and back piece, (1 d, the latter being placed edgewise on the frame, at an angle of fortyfive degrees withthe limbs a of the said frame. To the back piece is secureda molding-plate, e, of steel or other metal, whose edges are formed to producethe desired molding in the cornice-plaster. This molding-plate may be replaced by others of different pattern. To the walls, below the cornice, are secured continuous guide-strips, D, rabbeted on their upper outer edges. If either limb of the slipper be placed in the rabbet and the tool pushed forward like a carpenters plane, the superfluous plaster will be cut away from thoroughlyforlned cornice, leaving it finished perfectly smooth. If the walls of the room be without abreak, the strips D may be carried entirely around it so that when the tool reaches a corner it may be moved on in the new direction, its other limb a. taking the new guidestrip, and thus make an inside miter at the corner. If there be a chimney-breast or other break in the wall to the ends of the breast, I secure below the cornice, as a continuation of the wall-strips, the grooved strips D, which are grooved on their upper edges, and extend out some little distance from the face of the breast. In like manner, I secure across the face of the breast another strip, D, halved into the strips D at their intersections, and notched. at f f to correspond with the guidestuds 0 0 on the limbs of the frame of the slipper. In running the cornice around the breast it is necessary to leave a break on the face, as shown in Fig. 1, so that when the operator runs on the molding he approaches the chimney-breast at one side, runs out the slipper on the guides D, forming the inside miter as hereinbefore described, and enters the studs 0 c in the grooves of the strip D to steady the tool, continuing until he comes to the notches, which allow the studs to pass out, while the studs of the other limb enter the groove of the strip D, along which he runs to the break, when the tool may be withdrawn. The other side of the breast is finished in like manner, and the break closed up by hand.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination with the slipper O, the guidestrips D D D, having notches ff, as shown and set forth, for the purpose specified.

JOHN PALIN BALLANTINE.

Witnesses:

H. F. EBERTs, J. W. BOWLER. 

